Darkness Ascending
by Nina Vale
Summary: It's been a while since The Blood Spiral War, and all seemed well. Until now. A tragic event and a new enemy has Huntik Team and Foundation delve deeper into the dark underbelly of the supernatural world.


**I do not own Huntik: Secrets and Seekers if it wasn't obvious yet.**

_Soundtrack_

_Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper-Jack the Ripper/District Activities __Nox Arcana Sinister Cabaret/__Shadowplay/__Book of Shadows_

* * *

_Salon, France, night_

Billie was running down the street, her heels click-clacking on the stone. Her heart was pounding so fast and strong that she feared it would burst out of her chest. She looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see anyone but she knew she wasn't safe yet. She sped up a bit, turning around the corners and small streets, in hope of losing her pursuers. She silently cursed herself for her stupidity. She has been running a small errand for the Foundation, when a surge of sinister energy, coming from a nearby abandoned church caught her attention. Remembering that while Blood Spirals have been mainly defeated, there still have been some remnants of them(and that some agents have left the Organization after Grier's takeover) she went to investigate. She might not have been the strongest seeker, but she still was a Foundation agent. She at least could check this thing out and report to Nasher. It was her duty. It was a mistake, as it soon turned out.

At first, everything had been alright, she peered over the ruined wall and saw a bunch of figures standing around clearly performing some sort of ritual. The energy coming off, of them, made her shiver. She couldn't make up anything of what they were actually saying, but she didn't need to. It clearly was bad. She had to report it. She slowly backed away, but unfortunately, her shoes made a scraping sound as she nearly tripped over a broken cobblestone. The figures turned around.

That how she'd ended up in this situation. She shook her head. There was no point in dwelling in that. She had to make it to the museum. She turned into the small street that led there and felt a wave of relief when she finally saw the familiar small windows of the tower. She could see the lights of the big street as well. Determined she picked up her pace, she was almost there, she was at the corner ready to make her final step when something hit her from behind. Her eyes winded, and she felt her heartbeat increase even further. Dark spots danced around her eyes. She reached out, trying to support herself against the wall but her hands slid down the stone. Darkness overtook her, and her heart stilled as she fell to the ground.

* * *

_Next day, _

Dante followed Metz, as they walked down the street towards the Foundation run museum in Salon. They have been called here for a nasty business. Billy, the young foundation agent who worked in the museum has been found dead early in the morning. Murdered. It was an unexpected and shocking incident. While the seeker job had its dangers, it was mostly the field agents that fell, the victim. Billie was a researcher with a desk job. She never went on missions, and since they defeated Blood Spirals last year there was no real enemy that could strike. Of course, this could have been a regular murder...could have if it haven't been for the call he got even before the Foundation informed him of the event. His musings were soon interrupted as the chief of French Unit- Nasher came up to them. The man looked worn out and tried, but who could blame him? Billie was his employee.

"Chairman Metz" he greeted solemnly "Dante"

"Nasher," said Metz, while Dante only nodded his head "my deepest condolences! This is a mournful day indeed"

Nasher said nothing but his dark eyes flashed with anger for a brief moment before returning to their grim look.

"Billie was our best agent," he said at long last "the body is through here..." he added, lifting the yellow tape, leading them to the back alley by the museum. There were CSIs, most of them vampires or other immortals or magical people. They were accompanied by a man and a woman. The woman was brown, tall with big dark eyes and long jet-black hair. She was dressed in a white shirt, beige jacket and jeans. Her companion was her total opposite, pale, blond and blue-eyed. His outfit was more casual yet elegant and most defiantly expensive. It was François de la Croix, the leader of the French clan and the one who called Dante earlier.

"François" greeted him, Dante, causing both the blond and the woman to turn around.

"My Lord, Chairman Metz," said the vampire bowing lightly "let me introduce," he said pointing at the woman "this is Fareeha our leading investigating expert"

The woman gave Dante a curt nod

"It is an honour to finally meet you, Lord Dante," she said politely "Mr Metz" she added, nodding at Metz "I am incredibly sorry for your loss. You have my deepest condolences" she said

"And mine as well, of course" added François "it is a sorry sight to see such a young person die in such a tragic way"

Dante nodded, he didn't know how much of François' words were how he really felt and how much of it was politeness. He knew that while not stone-heart monsters vampires didn't care very much for mortals; but he guessed that if you lived for centuries you had to develop some slef-preservation so you wouldn't go mad. And you eventually did lose some contact with the ever-changing world of mortals. However it was neither time nor place to think about immortality and its burdens, so he chased these thoughts away, concentrating on the grim situation at hand.

"Thank you," he said "could you tell us what was the cause of her death?" he asked. In that moment one of the vampire medics came up to them.

"To put it simply and shortly magic," she said "blood magic" she added "one often used by wizard guilds, so it defiantly wasn't one of your people that got her"

"Can you tell us what guild it was?" asked Nasher, causing the medic, Fareeha and Francois to raise their eyebrows a bit.

"Unfortunately, no" shook her head Fareeha "there are dozens of guilds and many of them use darker magic. And those are only the registered ones. There are hundreds of rogue sorcerers and warlocks or ones that work alone. Your seeker world is much different from the rest of the supernatural one, we do not have such strict rules. Using blood or necromantic spell, for example, does not make a guild or person using them evil by default. So finding the culprit is going to take some time"

Metz and Nasher did not look pleased by the answer, while Dante only sighed sadly, having already known that fact thanks to lessons on the world he has received as a child. Nina had been most firm that he should know the ways of the magical world outside of the seeker niche. He was after all to become a king of vampires.

"But we will be able to tell you something more after post mortem," said the vampire medic "are we allowed to take the body for examination?"

Metz and Nasher looked between each other and Dante felt that they were a little bit doubtful. He could not blame them, after all, seeker world has been separated from the rest of magical one for ages, so far that almost every seeker thought that creatures like vampires or werewolves were just seekers or titans. Dealing with real vampires was something new for them and they still had to get used to it. Finally, Metz turned his eyes back to Fareeha and Francois.

"Of course," he said "we want to know as much as we can"

Fareeha nodded, and the medics picked up the body and carried it away.

"We will, of course, keep in contact and work with you closely on this case," she told Metz " you will be informed of everything"

"Thank you," said the man, bowing his head.

With that, the conversation was concluded, at least in the alley as they moved to the Museum to give a statement and answer some basic questions about Billie. After two hours they were finally let out.

"We will have to call an emergency meeting of the council and inform every seeker they might be in danger," he said "as well as appoint someone to work with Ms Fareeha"

Dante nodded wordlessly. He wondered what was going on. Were seekers targetted? The Foundation? Billie was a member, but the Blood Magic element stood out to him like a sore thumb. Why would warlocks or wizards or whoever, care about Foundation? They played in a completely different league and while he was not one to look down on people, Billie wasn't a very strong or active agent. She wasn't anywhere near top ranks. If someone wanted to eliminate seekers or Foundation wouldn't they start from the top tier? Organization and Blood Spirals did so, after all. And they had been seekers.

'I expect we'll have to see what the investigation will turn up' he thought.

* * *

****Hi, yeah I'm redoing it a bit because I've got a new idea for it. At long last. There will be a slight cross-over with Good Omens later down the road, but not very much of a crossover. Only in so much that I borrow one or two characters and relationships. Timelines and the world is a Huntik one. ****


End file.
